What do you think?
Rate this book
The Fighters for Freedom #4
Kitty Carter: Canteen Girl
When Kitty Carter joined the Canteen Corps she expected to find plenty of hard work and prehaps a little romance; but spies and saboteurs, and German submarines were far from her mind until she happened across the clue of the burning shoe on a bus one day.
248 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1944
27 people want to read
About the author
Ruby Lorraine Radford
77 books3 followersRuby Lorraine Radford (1892-1971) was an American author who wrote and published over 50 books of juvenile mysteries, adventures and biographies and several hundred short stories, magazine serials and plays. Many of her books starred women as central characters, as well as several focusing on Georgia history. Radford completed a teacher's training course and taught in the Augusta public schools from 1912-1920, then completed graduate coursework at Columbia University in 1921. In January 1928, she co-founded the Augusta Authors Club with Constance Lewis and Dr. Lawton Evans. She became the group's first secretary, as well as the president of the Augusta Theosophical Society. She was named Author of the Year by the Dixie Council of Authors and Journalists in 1969.
Radford also wrote books under the pseudonyms Marcia Ford and Matilda Bailey.
Radford also wrote books under the pseudonyms Marcia Ford and Matilda Bailey.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
July 25, 2012
Last year, I wrote about Pamela G by Florence Gunby Hadath about a English schoolgirl, her friends and the mobile canteen they drive around the countryside providing hot tea, sandwiches biscuits and whatever else was needed by the soldiers who were practicing maneuvers in the area before shipping out.
Once the US entered WWII, canteens were set up all over the country to do basically the same thing - provide coffee, sandwiches and, of course, the famous Red Cross donuts. Working in the canteen was one of the ways that girls and women could do their bit for the war. And that is exactly was Kitty Carter discovers when she meet a handsome young sailor, Brad Mason, at a Community Chest drive picnic on Palmetto Island in the beginning of Kitty Carter, Canteen Girl.
Kitty had wanted to join the WAVES, but if she did there would be no one to look at her brother Billy, 6, not with her father in the Navy and her mother already dead. Canteen service, Brad explains, is perfect for just that kind of situation. It is what his younger sister is doing while in junior college. He immediately introduces Kitty Mrs. Pearson, in charge of canteen training and luckily, a new class is starting at the beginning of the next week.
No sooner does Kitty finished her weeks long Red Cross training and she is thrown into an emergency. A big fire at the island's fish cannery and lots of now homeless people to care for. But both Kitty and Brad think this was not an accidental fire and they decide to investigate. After all, someone saw a dark figure running away from the scene the same night that Kitty and Brad witnessed a sailor's shoe spontaneously catch fire from a stray cigar ash, as though it has accelerants on it.
More strange events follow on the heels of this, and before long Kitty and Brad are totally convinced that there is something going on that involves some of the Navy people working in the Naval hospital on the island. This also happens to be where Kitty's father is stationed as the hospital's Chief Pharmacist's Mate. The hospital is the center of life on the island.
Naturally, Kitty's canteen duties help advance the investigation, even if they don't know what they are looking for exactly. But Kitty's suspicions increase when she notices an officer playing chess with enlisted men - rank is important in the Navy and this just isn't done.
Eventually, Brad and Kitty begin to suspect that someone is sneaking supplies to German submarines not far from shore when bread from a local bakery is found in a captured sub. This suspicion is reinforced when they take Billy in a picnic to Terrapin Island and he finds a constructed lookout in the tallest tree facing the ocean.
Later, the plot thickens even more when a troop train passes through while Kitty is on canteen duty. A soldier wants to know if anyone knows Terrapin Island and Kitty responds yes. He has money from the island's owner for the 100 year old black man, Uncle Mose, who has been living there his entire life, having been born there when the large island home was a plantation. Kitty gets the owner's name and address, so she can write and tell him that Uncle Mose has been moved to a dreadful hut on the island after the owner rented the island to a Mr. Beeson, a very nasty piece of work, instead of the nice home he was supposed to be living in.
Things are almost put on hold when Billy gets seriously ill, but when she confesses her suspicions to her father at Billy's bedside and mentions Beeson, who comes to the hospital to pick up food scraps for his pigs, her dad thinks she may actually be on to something. Mind you, she and Brad still don't know what they are investigating.
Well, one hurricane later and the mystery is solved. It seems the chess playing officer was playing chess to keep the Chief Commissary Steward (or cook) away from the hospital kitchen. That way, an enlisted sailor name Punaro could sneak supplies, food and medical items, out to Beeson, on the excuse of picking up his,, pig food. Beeson would take the supplies to Terrapin Island and watch for the Nazi subs. And it turns out that Kitty's father is actually stationed there to investigate this mystery of the disappearing supplies, as is a Nurse Dawson, whose brother had left the post of Chief Pharmacist's Mate in disgrace when he was supposedly unable to find out who was behind the thefts.
Not only does everything end well, but love is in the air, too. Mr. Carter and Nurse Dawson become more than just colleagues, they were planning on getting married. And of course, that is what is implied about Brad and Kitty.
Kitty Carter, Canteen Girl was a lot of fun to read because it was the same kind of benign mystery that you find in Nancy Drew books, where no ones life is ever in real danger, but there is enough excitement to hold you attention. And despite it focusing on the mystery, there is a lot of information about what it was like to be a canteen girl. It must have been a very welcoming sight to members of the armed forces to be greeted at every train stop with hot coffee and fresh food. And to know that their USOs would always be a welcome respite for them.
Kitty Carter, Canteen Girl was part of a series of eight book published around 1943/44 by Whitman Publishing Company as part of their "Fighters for Freedom" series. The writing in these novels is far from wonderful and the plots tend to be a little thin, but their real purpose was, of course, as propaganda pieces. Still, they are worth reading even now if only to see how a wartime mentality was created and maintained for boys and girls in WWII.
On the other hand, the Red Cross still does the important work of helping people whenever they are needed.
Once the US entered WWII, canteens were set up all over the country to do basically the same thing - provide coffee, sandwiches and, of course, the famous Red Cross donuts. Working in the canteen was one of the ways that girls and women could do their bit for the war. And that is exactly was Kitty Carter discovers when she meet a handsome young sailor, Brad Mason, at a Community Chest drive picnic on Palmetto Island in the beginning of Kitty Carter, Canteen Girl.
Kitty had wanted to join the WAVES, but if she did there would be no one to look at her brother Billy, 6, not with her father in the Navy and her mother already dead. Canteen service, Brad explains, is perfect for just that kind of situation. It is what his younger sister is doing while in junior college. He immediately introduces Kitty Mrs. Pearson, in charge of canteen training and luckily, a new class is starting at the beginning of the next week.
No sooner does Kitty finished her weeks long Red Cross training and she is thrown into an emergency. A big fire at the island's fish cannery and lots of now homeless people to care for. But both Kitty and Brad think this was not an accidental fire and they decide to investigate. After all, someone saw a dark figure running away from the scene the same night that Kitty and Brad witnessed a sailor's shoe spontaneously catch fire from a stray cigar ash, as though it has accelerants on it.
More strange events follow on the heels of this, and before long Kitty and Brad are totally convinced that there is something going on that involves some of the Navy people working in the Naval hospital on the island. This also happens to be where Kitty's father is stationed as the hospital's Chief Pharmacist's Mate. The hospital is the center of life on the island.
Naturally, Kitty's canteen duties help advance the investigation, even if they don't know what they are looking for exactly. But Kitty's suspicions increase when she notices an officer playing chess with enlisted men - rank is important in the Navy and this just isn't done.
Eventually, Brad and Kitty begin to suspect that someone is sneaking supplies to German submarines not far from shore when bread from a local bakery is found in a captured sub. This suspicion is reinforced when they take Billy in a picnic to Terrapin Island and he finds a constructed lookout in the tallest tree facing the ocean.
Later, the plot thickens even more when a troop train passes through while Kitty is on canteen duty. A soldier wants to know if anyone knows Terrapin Island and Kitty responds yes. He has money from the island's owner for the 100 year old black man, Uncle Mose, who has been living there his entire life, having been born there when the large island home was a plantation. Kitty gets the owner's name and address, so she can write and tell him that Uncle Mose has been moved to a dreadful hut on the island after the owner rented the island to a Mr. Beeson, a very nasty piece of work, instead of the nice home he was supposed to be living in.
Things are almost put on hold when Billy gets seriously ill, but when she confesses her suspicions to her father at Billy's bedside and mentions Beeson, who comes to the hospital to pick up food scraps for his pigs, her dad thinks she may actually be on to something. Mind you, she and Brad still don't know what they are investigating.
Well, one hurricane later and the mystery is solved. It seems the chess playing officer was playing chess to keep the Chief Commissary Steward (or cook) away from the hospital kitchen. That way, an enlisted sailor name Punaro could sneak supplies, food and medical items, out to Beeson, on the excuse of picking up his,, pig food. Beeson would take the supplies to Terrapin Island and watch for the Nazi subs. And it turns out that Kitty's father is actually stationed there to investigate this mystery of the disappearing supplies, as is a Nurse Dawson, whose brother had left the post of Chief Pharmacist's Mate in disgrace when he was supposedly unable to find out who was behind the thefts.
Not only does everything end well, but love is in the air, too. Mr. Carter and Nurse Dawson become more than just colleagues, they were planning on getting married. And of course, that is what is implied about Brad and Kitty.
Kitty Carter, Canteen Girl was a lot of fun to read because it was the same kind of benign mystery that you find in Nancy Drew books, where no ones life is ever in real danger, but there is enough excitement to hold you attention. And despite it focusing on the mystery, there is a lot of information about what it was like to be a canteen girl. It must have been a very welcoming sight to members of the armed forces to be greeted at every train stop with hot coffee and fresh food. And to know that their USOs would always be a welcome respite for them.
Kitty Carter, Canteen Girl was part of a series of eight book published around 1943/44 by Whitman Publishing Company as part of their "Fighters for Freedom" series. The writing in these novels is far from wonderful and the plots tend to be a little thin, but their real purpose was, of course, as propaganda pieces. Still, they are worth reading even now if only to see how a wartime mentality was created and maintained for boys and girls in WWII.
On the other hand, the Red Cross still does the important work of helping people whenever they are needed.
January 16, 2015
Kitty Carter cannot follow her dreams of joining the WAVES to help the war effort, because her widowed father is in the Navy, and she is the only person who can look after her young brother. She is living on an island that apparently is off the coast somewhere in the South, where her father is in charge of a Navy hospital pharmacy. When she meets a young sailor in the local park, she learns that she can serve her country in the Red Cross Canteen Corp.
I give it a three star rating not because it is good, but because it has everything:
Mystery
Spies
Romance
Patriotism
Racism, oh the racism.
Dirty Nazis and Japs (not actually, but that is what everyone calls them)
This book was basically propaganda to encourage young women to serve on the WWII home front by doing womanly things like dancing with the soldiers, making and serving sandwiches to the soldiers, saving food and using their ration points wisely.
All the soldiers are swell young men, the girls are cheerful, wholesome and pure, and the children - well, the Child, little Billy, is well above average.
Brad and Kitty speak about their future:
Apparently, that was Sailor Brad asking Canteen Girl Kitty to be his bride. And elderly Uncle Mose will be their darky...but the big job they have to finish is beating the Japs and the dirty Nazis.
I give it a three star rating not because it is good, but because it has everything:
Mystery
Spies
Romance
Patriotism
Racism, oh the racism.
Dirty Nazis and Japs (not actually, but that is what everyone calls them)
This book was basically propaganda to encourage young women to serve on the WWII home front by doing womanly things like dancing with the soldiers, making and serving sandwiches to the soldiers, saving food and using their ration points wisely.
All the soldiers are swell young men, the girls are cheerful, wholesome and pure, and the children - well, the Child, little Billy, is well above average.
Brad and Kitty speak about their future:
She followed the nurse to the door and closed it tightly. “Brad, the whole thing came to a climax last night. Feel able to hear about it?”
“Sorry you don’t get the privilege, Kit, but Chief Carter and Captain Rogers were in here a couple of hours ago. They told me everything. You’ve really been super through it all.”
“I’m glad they talked with you. Hazel told me they’ve gone out to Terrapin Island now to get Beeson and Punaro. Sure hope no harm comes to Uncle Mose before they get there.”
“Hope so, too. We can use the old darky when we build our summer cottage in the pine thicket.”
“Our summer cottage in the pine thicket!” exclaimed Kitty and laughed suddenly. “Oh, Brad, what a dreamer you are! They must have you sort of doped still.”
But he was entirely himself as he looked at her seriously. “Really, Kit, wouldn’t you like that?”
“I think I would, Brad,” she replied just as seriously. “But we’ve an awful lot to do first.”
“Oh, of course. We’ve got to finish this big job!”
Apparently, that was Sailor Brad asking Canteen Girl Kitty to be his bride. And elderly Uncle Mose will be their darky...but the big job they have to finish is beating the Japs and the dirty Nazis.
July 6, 2016
Alex Baugh's review includes such a good summary of the book that I only need to add my 2 ¢.
This is nit picking because either title is correct, but on page 29 I noticed that Kitty calls the doctor Lieutenant Cary (not Dr. Cary) but chooses to call the nurse Miss Dawson. Later we are given a reason why some people may address Cary as doctor and some as Lieutenant but no reason was given for everyone ignoring the nurse's rank.
On page 37 Kitty is shown wearing a sort of tailored looking dress that might be appropriate for the office but in the text we are told that the girls bought their evening clothes before the war and that Kitty is wearing a "fluffy" evening dress. Too late now to foster communication with the artist.
On page 79 this reader was disturbed to find out that the family's black cook/housekeeper Jane talks like Brer Rabbit. Oh, no! Give me a break!
On page 111 the German bad guys are not Nazis, they are "Hitlerites." Never heard that before. It sounds sort of biblical.
On page 142 Uncle Mose says "Dey tells me young Massa done been sent crost de big water to fight dem Japs..." Assuming that the book is set in 1943/44 and Uncle Mose is 100 years old (I doubt it but let's give him the maximum for the sake of discussion) and Lincoln wrote the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. Then Uncle Mose was freed 80 years ago; approximately 53 years before the so called young massa was even born. So he was never the young massa. Even the old massa must have been very young when there actually was a massa. So Uncle Mose knows that the U. S. is fighting the Japanese but he doesn't know how the Civil War turned out?
This is nit picking because either title is correct, but on page 29 I noticed that Kitty calls the doctor Lieutenant Cary (not Dr. Cary) but chooses to call the nurse Miss Dawson. Later we are given a reason why some people may address Cary as doctor and some as Lieutenant but no reason was given for everyone ignoring the nurse's rank.
On page 37 Kitty is shown wearing a sort of tailored looking dress that might be appropriate for the office but in the text we are told that the girls bought their evening clothes before the war and that Kitty is wearing a "fluffy" evening dress. Too late now to foster communication with the artist.
On page 79 this reader was disturbed to find out that the family's black cook/housekeeper Jane talks like Brer Rabbit. Oh, no! Give me a break!
On page 111 the German bad guys are not Nazis, they are "Hitlerites." Never heard that before. It sounds sort of biblical.
On page 142 Uncle Mose says "Dey tells me young Massa done been sent crost de big water to fight dem Japs..." Assuming that the book is set in 1943/44 and Uncle Mose is 100 years old (I doubt it but let's give him the maximum for the sake of discussion) and Lincoln wrote the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. Then Uncle Mose was freed 80 years ago; approximately 53 years before the so called young massa was even born. So he was never the young massa. Even the old massa must have been very young when there actually was a massa. So Uncle Mose knows that the U. S. is fighting the Japanese but he doesn't know how the Civil War turned out?
July 28, 2015
Honestly, I was hoping it was set in England. Basically, a propaganda book about how women need to cook and clean to help the war effort and learn to be better wives. The Italian named character is the bad guy, but the scapegoat isn't because "he has an honest face." I rolled my eyes at most of it. Nancy Drew it definitely isn't!
January 15, 2017
Very cute. :)
May 5, 2015
Read off Project Gutenberg. A patriotic bit of wartime pulp, where a plucky gal uncovers Nazi’s smuggling supplies out of a South Carolina hospital. Jingoism! Patriotism! Nostalgia for slavery! (Yeeeaaaah.)
Our heroine DOES lead a dashing motor-boat escape and carry her poor wounded beaux to the hospital, so there’s that. Amusing that she’s named Carter - makes you think Agent Carter, and at the end the military officer who sweeps in to arrest the baddies is named… Captain Rogers. I giggled.
Useful for getting into the mindset of the era. The illustrations are true to the time period, if not the action in the story. (Uh… I just read that she’s looking over the back of the chair? And here the chair is facing forward? That kind of thing.)
Our heroine DOES lead a dashing motor-boat escape and carry her poor wounded beaux to the hospital, so there’s that. Amusing that she’s named Carter - makes you think Agent Carter, and at the end the military officer who sweeps in to arrest the baddies is named… Captain Rogers. I giggled.
Useful for getting into the mindset of the era. The illustrations are true to the time period, if not the action in the story. (Uh… I just read that she’s looking over the back of the chair? And here the chair is facing forward? That kind of thing.)
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews